How to Use alternation in a Sentence

alternation

noun
  • This alternation of cuts gives rhythm, radiance and depth to the tiara.
    — Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle, Forbes, 26 Sep. 2021
  • That jersey will also feature an all-black collar, the lone alternation to that look.
    — Jim Owczarski, Cincinnati.com, 1 Aug. 2017
  • Miller thinks the brain is juggling the items being held in working memory one at a time, in alternation.
    — Jordana Cepelewicz, WIRED, 9 June 2018
  • On the plus side, the macro structure of the book—the pace of the plot, the tick-tock alternation between present and past in each chapter—was sound.
    — Literary Hub, 18 June 2026
  • That alternation between the serious and the absurd was the series’ stock in trade.
    — Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 7 Dec. 2023
  • Topped with pineapple, ribbons of raw onion, cilantro and salsa taquera, his al pastor needs no alternation.
    — Washington Post, 19 Apr. 2021
  • If the pieces do well at the stores, the owners will ask for more the next year, or one with certain alternations, depending on what customers are saying.
    — John Tuohy, USA TODAY, 21 May 2017
  • Well, that our minds swarm with dreams and fears, sometimes in alternation, sometimes overlapping in complex textures.
    — Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 22 June 2023
  • Sizes range from a 28 to 38 waist, with alternations included.
    — Christopher Murray May Earn A Commission If You Buy Through Our Referral Links. This Content Was Created By A Team That Works Independently From The Fox Newsroom., FOXNews.com, 20 Oct. 2025
  • There’s laughter and passionate debate and easy alternation between the two.
    — Peter C. Baker, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2023
  • Or is that an alternation permanently to the way you guys are incorporated?
    — Meghann Farnsworth, Recode, 7 Apr. 2018
  • Doerr likes to start in medias res, and then to go back to the origins of his stories and work forward again (or forward and backward and forward again, in alternation).
    — James Wood, The New Yorker, 27 Sep. 2021
  • Conductors often fetishize the opening bars of this opera, their squirmy alternation of silence and piquant dissonance.
    — Justin Davidson, Vulture, 11 Mar. 2026
  • The group-solo alternation works best before a section in which Aparna enacts a poem about being abandoned at the seaside.
    — New York Times, 24 July 2022
  • That push and pull, like the alternation of clarity and opacity in his biography, also haunts his pictures.
    — Susan Tallman, The Atlantic, 6 Apr. 2022
  • But among the very real hazard of a nuclear alternation were some inaccurate details.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 3 Jan. 2018
  • Nowotny and his team have found that separable odors aren’t perceived at the same time; rather, the coffee and croissant odors are processed very rapidly in alternation.
    — Quanta Magazine, 18 Sep. 2018
  • And that is just the start of the significant alternations coming before the 2023 season.
    — Austin Knoblauchassistant Editor, Los Angeles Times, 28 Feb. 2023
  • Some sections contain long stretches of identical rows, while others show repeating alternations.
    — New Atlas, 21 Dec. 2025
  • Customized jeans retail for $445 and include all alternations and shipping.
    — Angela Velasquez, Sourcing Journal, 13 Nov. 2025
  • The objective of the study was to evaluate in humans the effect of disruption of habituation by alternation between foods in a meal.
    — Ncbi Rofl, Discover Magazine, 16 Apr. 2013
  • Instead of the traditional alternation of sung-text recitative and arias (songs), verismo operas are more seamless in how songs are interwoven with the story.
    — Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Oct. 2025
  • Nunes disagreed, and his staff described any changes as minor edits or alternations requested by the FBI and Democrats.
    — The Washington Post, NOLA.com, 2 Feb. 2018
  • But in a democracy, a workable regulatory system needs to be able to survive the regular alternation of parties in power.
    — Matthew Yglesias, Vox, 3 Aug. 2018
  • Elsewhere, a cocktail ring with a sizable stone and a bayadère-style alternation of polished gold and diamonds has a sunshine yellow work by Poliakoff as a backdrop.
    — Lily Templeton, Footwear News, 28 Oct. 2025
  • Dramatic shifts in the ideological makeup of both parties during that same period did not upset that alternation of power.
    — Dylan Matthews, Vox, 18 July 2018
  • The line might not have so strongly suggested our hero’s wandering eye without Schubert putting dilemma into sound with a quick alternation between major and minor.
    — Peter Dobrin, Philly.com, 19 Mar. 2018
  • There were a few accidental double stops in the faster passages that involve rapid alternation between strings, and notes on the C string occasionally sounded raspy.
    — Paul Hodgins, Orange County Register, 11 Feb. 2017
  • The study found that any alternation to the Cupid's bow resulted in the narrowest margin for artificial appearance.
    — Lauren Valenti, Marie Claire, 12 Apr. 2017
  • Other conditions include screening of mechanical building components from public view and alternations to spacing and height, to preserve sight lines to and from the bridge.
    — Scott Huddleston, San Antonio Express-News, 26 Mar. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'alternation.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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